Parents of missing ECSU student plead for information

Alyssiah Wiley, a student at Eastern Connecticut State University who has been missing since April 20, isn’t the type of person to abandon her life without telling her family, her mother said Thursday.

Alyssiah Wiley, a student at Eastern Connecticut State University who has been missing since April 20, isn’t the type of person to abandon her life without telling her family, her mother said Thursday.

"She is not a young lady who would walk away,” an emotional Corinne Martin said at a news conference outside Eastern’s public safety office.

Martin said her 20-year-old daughter, a native of West Haven, is a sophomore at Eastern, who is majoring in psychology and minoring in biology. Martin’s goal, her mother said, is to go on to medical school and get a doctorate in psychology.

Law enforcement officials who attended the press conference with about a dozen members of Wiley’s family, echoed the request for anyone who might know something about her disappearance to tell authorities.

“This is my plea to the public,” Windham State’s Attorney Patricia Froelich said. “I know that someone out there knows where Alyssiah is.”

Wiley was last seen the evening of April 20 as she made her way from Dairy Queen on Main Street in Willimantic, a few blocks south of Eastern campus, to the Windham Street High Rise Apartments, where she lives on campus, state police spokesman J. Paul Vance said.

Her disappearance was reported to state police on April 24 after university police had searched the campus without finding any information about her whereabouts, Vance said.

State police found a car on Friday in Bridgeport that they said was connected to the case. They did not identify its owner.

State police have conducted numerous searches using police dogs, interviewed friends and family members and issued a nationwide alert.

“Some leads have been developed,” Vance said. “We continue to work on the case with all our resources.”

Because the investigation is ongoing, Vance would not comment on what clues the police have found, including whether foul play is involved. He praised the cooperation police have received from Wiley’s family members. “We’ve been working as a team,” he said.

State police plan to conduct spot checks on Saturday evening in the area of Main Street, Valley Street and Prospect Street in Willimantic, looking for possible witnesses who can provide vital clues.

“That little piece may help us move our case to the next level,” Vance said.

He said if Wiley has decided on her own to go away, police would not do anything more than confirm that she is safe.

“Our job here, our sole job, is to locate Alyssiah,” Vance said.

“We need to know. The police have a lot of leads, but Alyssiah is still out there,” Martin said. “Find it in your heart to open up your heart and speak. … Please help us bring our loved one, my baby, home.”